2008-04-23 - Scoopy Notebook: Timeâ€™s up again - The Villager

It was just a few months ago that Time’s Up!, the environmental/bicycling group that promotes Critical Mass, had to leave its E. Houston St. storefront space after Steve Stollman announced he was selling the building. Time’s Up! thought they had found a new home at The Hub, a former garage at 73 Morton St. at Hudson St., where George Bliss operates a bicycle-taxi repair shop. But now, Bliss tells us, he’s being forced to double his rent to $14,000 a month and can no longer afford to share the 2,300-square-foot space with Time’s Up!, which has been paying him a nominal rent as a subtenant. Instead, he’s bringing in what he called a “bicycle FedEx” service, and has given Time’s Up! 30 days notice. But to provide the group a fitting sendoff — and some cash to help them move and find yet another new space — The Hub is throwing a benefit party this Friday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. The event will feature a bicycle fashion show — in which all are invited to participate — the Rude Mechanical Orchestra, Traffic Jam Tap Dancers, Boom Boom Brooks Trio, good food and drink — and a trampoline. The benefit will also fund the Pedicab Workers Association’s lawsuit against the city’s new restrictions on pedicabs.